Author's Note: I just wanted to thank all of you who have reviewed. Each review is appreciated. For those of you who have read this story and then gone back to read my older ones, thanks again. Just be sure that you read the other ones in order.

I found them together in the first place I checked: the video arcade. Kuwabara and Yusuke were engrossed in a Martian game and didn't notice my approach until I repeated their names for the fifth time.

"Yusuke, Kuwabara!"

The two boys turned away from the game they were playing and faced me. Yusuke frowned as he shoved his fists into the pockets of his blue jean jacket.

"What's up, Kurama?"

I glanced around the crowded arcade and shook my head. "We can't talk here. Follow me."

I stepped out of the dark room and stared up at the fading sun in the sky. It was getting dark, and in Makai the night is like a dark void draining all light. I shook myself out of my thoughts and glanced at Yusuke as he reached my side.

"I was attacked a few hours ago."

"What?! Who attacked you?" the boy shouted, enraged at the thought.

"I don't know who he was, but he is a shape shifter. He came to me in Hiei's form and tried to draw me into the Makai."

"Where's the little shrimp, anyway?" Kuwabara asked.

"Hiei is in Makai following the demon's trail. I plan to go after him," I explained, starting back down the road.

"Of course! This creep isn't getting away with attacking you," Yusuke said, matching my stride.

I nodded in agreement. My kitsune pride was screaming vehemently for blood, and my human reason hadn't bothered to step in to attempt to stop the blood hunt. No one deceived Youko Kurama and lived.

"How are we supposed to find him? At this rate it'll take us days just to get through this freaking forest!" Yusuke complained.

I glanced at him and sighed. "Hiei will likely find us before we find him. He knows that I was going to come here."

"Yeah, but how do we tell if it's the real shrimp?" Kuwabara asked, scratching his head.

"While the demon is free there is no way of knowing. We'll just have to be careful," I answered, scanning the darkness.

"That's comforting. And what's with this creepy mist?" Yusuke demanded.

"What mist?" I asked, glancing down. Seeing nothing, I glanced back and found Yusuke and Kuwabara engulfed in the sweeping mist. My hand went automatically to my hair, my fingers instinctively finding the red rose hidden there.

"Kurama?" Yusuke murmured, eyes widening slightly.

"That is no normal mist," I replied, snapping out my whip with a flick of my wrist.

"Kurama? You really wish to strike down an old friend?" a soft, familiar husky voice whispered from somewhere within the rising mist.

I jerked slightly at the voice I hadn't heard in over seventeen years. Kuronue. He stepped into view, the mist swirling around him as Yusuke and Kuwabara stared, stunned. Yusuke glanced at me.

"Who's he?"

"He is not Kuronue. My friend died several years ago," I said firmly, my hand tightening around my whip.

Kuronue's form laughed as it melted into Yomi, my former second in command before he betrayed me. He turned ruined eyes on me, reminding me of the failed assassination attempt I had ordered.

"Enough with these games. Show yourself, or are you afraid?" I challenged, ignoring the guilt swarming within my mind.

Again the form shifted, only this time the face staring back at me invoked terror within my being. Karasu. He stalked closer, his beady eyes locking on mine. I took an involuntary step back and would have taken another had I not noticed what I was doing. Facing again the beast that had nearly killed me was just as terrifying as when he had trapped my body within a cocoon of bombs. My mind didn't seem to want to believe that it wasn't really that monster as it recalled the pure agony that had exploded through my body as the bombs around it went off.

"Lovely Kurama, so beautiful in death's grasp, let me ease your suffering," that sickeningly sweet voice whispered.

The mist wrapped around us like a shroud, blinding us. I turned blindly, reaching out with one hand, and felt a tree in front of me. I took a hesitant step forward and felt something brush across my legs.

"Kurama!" Yusuke shouted from somewhere behind me.

"Yusuke?"

A shocked voice cried out in sudden pain. I turned toward the cry, not really knowing what I was moving toward. The mist was suddenly gone as Kuwabara cried out triumphantly, "The Great Kazuma Kuwabara got him!"

I stared at Kuwabara, stunned. He waved his spirit sword around, boasting about his victory. Blood ran down the right side of his chest, but he appeared not to have noticed.

"Kuwabara, you're hurt."

He glanced down, allowing his spirit sword to dissolve as he frowned at the wound. "He must have hit me as I swung my sword. The wimp tried to sneak up on me, but the Great Kazuma..."

"Oh, can it, you idiot. While you were swinging that sword around like a stupid idiot you could have hit one of us," Yusuke snapped.

"You're just jealous because my weapon is better than your spirit gun," Kuwabara retorted.

"Stop it. He may be hurt, but he's not dead. He could return at any moment. Kuwabara, how severe is your wound?" I asked, stopping the argument.

"Just a scratch, nothing a man like..."

"Then we move on. We have to find Hiei as soon as possible. He may go after him since he failed with us."

"Lead the way, fox boy," Yusuke agreed.

I returned the rose to my hair and started forward. The demon had found us too soon after our arrival in Makai. How was he keeping tabs on us? There was no way to know until we discovered who the shape shifting demon really was.